#matt: library

[y3sterdaysproblem]

★ matt loves talking you through it ★

“there’s my good girl.”

matt’s sweet voice filled the air in his bedroom as he stared down at you from where he was propped on his elbow next to you, eyes locked on your face while his fingers moved inside you.

you were fully naked on his bed, legs spread wide for him to have easy access to your drooling pussy. he loved the way you surrendered your body to him, letting him have full access to you whenever he wanted, knowing he’d do everything he could just to see your pretty face twisted up in pleasure.

matt’s two middle fingers slid in and out of you languidly as to drag out the feeling as opposed to rushing it and getting you off as quickly as possible. matt liked to take his time, liked to listen to you for as long as you’d let him until you got too antsy and were begging him to make you cum.

“does it feel good?” he asked you in almost a coo, smiling when your head nodded quickly. your eyes were clenched shut and your hands gripped at the sheets beneath you, the only sound leaving your lips being a trail of whimpers with every exhale. “use your words, baby. you don’t want me to stop, do you?”

“don’t stop,” you rasp out instantly, reaching one of your hands up to grab onto his shirt. you turn your head to face him and open your eyes as much as you can, locking onto his bright blue ones that were already on you. “please don’t stop, feels so good.”

“hmm, I dunno, i’m not convinced,” matt hums, slowing the movement of his fingers. “no!” you cry, grinding your hips down onto the digits buried deep inside you. “please, matt, need to cum.”

“that’s better,” matt grins at your desperation, feeling his stomach coil at the way your pretty voice begged him to continue. the sound of you pleading for him to do absolutely anything was something he could listen to forever.

he picked up the pace of his fingers again, drinking in the way your moans picked back up. “you’re doing so well, baby, sound so pretty.” matt lets his gaze wander to where your bodies connect, listening to the sound of your pussy squelching every time his fingers drew in and out of you.

“fuuuck,” he groans hungrily. “she’s so wet for me, baby. you love my fingers inside of you this much?”

your eyelids have fluttered shut again, unable to stay open as your tummy started to tighten and your toes began to curl. “come on, angel, you know better. answer me.” matt’s voice makes you groan, the deep tone he adopts sending a shiver down your spine.

“y-yes, I love your fingers!” you cry out, back arching as his thumb moved to rub on your clit, sliding around the nub in circles easily from how soaked you were. “love a-anything you give me, matt, thank you.”

“good girl,” matt croons. “you wanna cum for me, baby? you’re so close, pretty girl, can feel you squeezin’ my fingers so tight. all y’gotta do is ask and i’ll get you there.”

you let out a loud string of whines as you nodded your head again, knowing he wanted to hear you speak but staying quiet since you loved the way he demanded it from you.

matt fully removed his fingers from you and brought his hand up to your face, gripping your jaw and forcing you to look at him. your eyes cracked open once more to see him staring down at you expectantly, knowing you knew better.

his fingers spread your wetness on your jaw and chin as he gripped onto you tightly, fingers so close you could smell the scent of pure arousal filling your senses. “please make me cum,” you whimpered out, parting your lips slightly as his thumb dragged over them. “please, matt, i’ve been so good.”

matt grins at your request and slips his thumb into your mouth for a moment before moving his hand back between your legs, dragging the pads of his fingers over your clit gently. “always gotta give my girl what she wants, hm?”

after he speaks, he slips his fingers back inside you and fucks them in and out at a pace faster than before, ripping loud moans out of your parted, pouty lips, your back arching off of the bed.

“go ahead, baby, I got you. wanna feel you cum around my fingers. that’s my pretty girl, let go for me, yeah? there you go.” matt’s voice spoke softly in your ear as his words tipped you over the edge, your orgasm crashing over you intensely, legs slamming shut around matt’s wrist.

“fuck!” you shriek, body trembling from the climax that wracked through you, his fingers inside you still coaxing out the remnants.

matt’s face ducked down to press gentle kisses into your jaw as you tried to catch your breath, chest rising and falling quickly. “good job,” he praises quietly, sliding his fingers out of you so he could drag his hand up your stomach, once again spreading your fluids on your skin. “love making you cum like that, watching you fall apart from my fingers. so fucking pretty.”

you let out a small sigh mixed with a whine at his words, turning your face to meet his lips with your own. he kisses you back sweetly, pulling away after a few seconds to let you keep catching your breath.

“thanks, daddy,” you say in a teasing voice and matt can’t help but laugh, though he shakes his head and pushes himself down the bed slowly. “gonna eat you out til you’re crying now, okay?”

you were never one to refuse.

dedicated to @strnilolover

[inspiredangel]

you give matt head for the first time.

You were kneeling in between his thighs, your hands reaching over to unzip his pants "Can i?" you asked sweetly, looking up at him with your pretty pleading eyes. His breath hitched at the sight of you kneeling infront of him, he nodded his head quickly "Of course you can, sweetheart."

The mere thought of you taking him in your mouth drove him crazy. You pulled his pants down, along with his boxers. The sight of his hard dick making you drool, your panties getting wetter every second.

Matt feels himself get dizzy already, when your tongue makes contact with his sensitive tip "Fuucckk.." he groans, his hand grazing over your hair, making a makeshift ponytail with his hand.

"Just like that, baby.." he praised, as your tongue glides over his length with ease. The sight making matt go crazy.

The hand holding your hair slowly guiding your movements. Your eyes meet his, his lips parted slightly, as he looks down at you with pure admiration. His stomanch twists in knots, as you start taking more of his length in your mouth.

He bites his lip, holding back a moan "You´re so good." his fingers combing through your hair, as you began picking up your pace. He isn´t going to last long at this rate. Your tongue felt so so good on him, he couldn´t hold back anymore.

"Holy shit." his words a breathless moan, as his hands gripped your hair. His hips twitching, "Gonna- fuuckk.. gonna come." he crooned out, his head falling back. His cock throbbing, and sliding down your throat over and over.

His cum spilling down your throat, It’s so warm, and intimate being able to do this with him makes you feel so good about yourself. You were the only one who made him feel this good.

His breaths were coming out heavy, as he pulled his cock out of your mouth "You´re so good, baby." he cooed softly, as he tucked a strand a hair behind your ear "so so good."

©INSPIREDANGEL all rights reserved.

a/n — need matt in that suit so bad, oh my daaaayyyyss, also i apologize for any misspells, or bad grammar. english is not my first language.

@marrykisskilled @chrislilcumslvt @sosasturns @cyberskulzzz @slut4chris888 @waitforyrlove @sturnioloangell @slctsblogana @anyaa2s @emely9274 @shadowthesim @frankoceanfanpage @mrsarnold @freshloveee @t0riiiis @jetaimevous @sturn777 @sturniologirlzz @venusbabysblog @ch6rm @sturniolossss @mattsbrowser @sturnlsstuff @chrissweetheart @lizzyzzn @sophand4n4

[shakespearean-simp]

mattheo, who is naturally smart, failing his classes because he knew that reader was helping tutor students

r: well, personally, i like to study by...

m: uh-huh... *he nods mindlessly, too busy staring at you*

BONUS

r: ... riddle, are you even listening?

m: *sighs dreamily*

[bookaddict24-7]

“Librarians have knowledge. They guide you to the right books. The right worlds. They find the best places. Like soul-enhanced search engines."

―The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

[notimjustagirl]

Never underestimate the big importance of small things.

Matt Haig, The Midnight Library

[briabooknerd]

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Twinkump Linkdump

I'm on a 20+ city book tour for my new novel PICKS AND SHOVELS. Catch me in SAN DIEGO at MYSTERIOUS GALAXY next MONDAY (Mar 24), and in CHICAGO with PETER SAGAL on Apr 2. More tour dates here.

I have an excellent excuse for this week's linkdump: I'm in Germany, but I'm supposed to be in LA, and I'm not, because London Heathrow shut down due to a power-station fire, which meant I spent all day yesterday running around like a headless chicken, trying to get home in time for my gig in San Diego on Monday (don't worry, I sorted it):

https://www.mystgalaxy.com/32425Doctorow

Therefore, this is 30th linkdump, in which I collect the assorted links that didn't make it into this week's newsletters. Here are the other 29:

https://pluralistic.net/tag/linkdump/

I always like to start and end these 'dumps with some good news, which isn't easy in these absolutely terrifying times. But there is some good news: Wil Wheaton has announced his new podcast, a successor of sorts to the LeVar Burton Reads podcast. It's called "It's Storytime" and it features Wil reading his favorite stories handpicked from science fiction magazines, including On Spec, the magazine that bought my very first published story (I was 16, it ran in their special youth issue, it wasn't very good, but boy did it mean a lot to me):

https://wilwheaton.net/podcast/

Here's some more good news: a court has found (again!) that works created by AI are not eligible for copyright. This is the very best possible outcome for people worried about creators' rights in the age of AI, because if our bosses can't copyright the botshit that comes out of the "AI" systems trained on our work, then they will pay us:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-appeals-court-rejects-copyrights-171203999.html

Our bosses hate paying us, but they hate the idea of not being able to stop people from copying their entertainment products so! much! more! It's that simple:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/20/everything-made-by-an-ai-is-in-the-public-domain/

This outcome is so much better than the idea that AI training isn't fair use – an idea that threatens the existence of search engines, archiving, computational linguistics, and other clearly beneficial activities. Worse than that, though: if we create a new copyright that allows creators to prevent others from scraping and analyzing their works, our bosses will immediately alter their non-negotiable boilerplate contracts to demand that we assign them this right. That will allow them to warehouse huge troves of copyrighted material that they will sell to AI companies who will train models designed to put us on the breadline (see above, re: our bosses hate paying us):

https://pluralistic.net/2024/03/13/hey-look-over-there/#lets-you-and-he-fight

The rights of archivists grow more urgent by the day, as the Trump regime lays waste to billions of dollars worth of government materials that were produced at public expense, deleting decades of scientific, scholarly, historical and technical materials. This is the kind of thing you might expect the National Archive or the Library of Congress to take care of, but they're being chucked into the meat-grinder as well.

To make things even worse, Trump and Musk have laid waste to the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a tiny, vital agency that provides funding to libraries, archives and museums across the country. Evan Robb writes about all the ways the IMLS supports the public in his state of Washington:

Technology support. Last-mile broadband connection, network support, hardware, etc. Assistance with the confusing e-rate program for reduced Internet pricing for libraries.

Coordinated group purchase of e-books, e-audiobooks, scholarly research databases, etc.

Library services for the blind and print-disabled.

Libraries in state prisons, juvenile detention centers, and psychiatric institutions.

Digitization of, and access to, historical resources (e.g., newspapers, government records, documents, photos, film, audio, etc.).

Literacy programming and support for youth services at libraries.

The entire IMLS budget over the next 10 years rounds to zero when compared to the US federal budget – and yet, by gutting it, DOGE is amputating significant parts of the country's systems that promote literacy; critical thinking; and universal access to networks, media and ideas. Put it that way, and it's not hard to see why they hate it so.

Trying to figure out what Trump is up to is (deliberately) confusing, because Trump and Musk are pursuing a chaotic agenda that is designed to keep their foes off-balance:

https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-donald-trump-chaos/

But as Hamilton Nolan writes, there's a way to cut through the chaos and make sense of it all. The problem is that there are a handful of billionaires who have so much money that when they choose chaos, we all have to live with it:

The significant thing about the way that Elon Musk is presently dismantling our government is not the existence of his own political delusions, or his own self-interested quest to privatize public functions, or his own misreading of economics; it is the fact that he is able to do it. And he is able to do it because he has several hundred billion dollars. If he did not have several hundred billion dollars he would just be another idiot with bad opinions. Because he has several hundred billion dollars his bad opinions are now our collective lived experience.

https://www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/the-underlying-problem

We actually have a body of law designed to prevent this from happening. It's called "antitrust" and 40 years ago, Jimmy Carter decided to follow the advice of some of history's dumbest economists who said that fighting monopolies made the economy "inefficient." Every president since, up to – but not including – Biden, did even more to encourage monopolization and the immense riches it creates for a tiny number of greedy bastards.

But Biden changed that. Thanks to the "Unity Taskforce" that divided up the presidential appointments between the Democrats' corporate wing and the Warren/Sanders wing, Biden appointed some of the most committed, effective trustbusters we'd seen for generations:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/18/administrative-competence/#i-know-stuff

After Trump's election, there was some room for hope that Trump's FTC would continue to pursue at least some of the anti-monopoly work of the Biden years. After all, there's a sizable faction within the MAGA movement that hates (some) monopolies:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/01/24/enforcement-priorities/#enemies-lists

But last week, Trump claimed to have illegally fired the two Democratic commissioners on the FTC: Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Slaughter. I stan both of these commissioners, hard. When they were at the height of their powers in the Biden years, I had the incredible, disorienting experience of getting out of bed, checking the headlines, and feeling very good about what the government had just done.

Trump isn't legally allowed to fire Bedoya and Slaughter. Perhaps he's just picking this fight as part of his chaos agenda (see above). But there are some other pretty good theories about what this is setting up. In his BIG newsletter, Matt Stoller proposes that Trump is using this case as a wedge, trying to set a precedent that would let him fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell:

https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/why-trump-tried-to-fire-federal-trade

But perhaps there's more to it. Stoller just had Commissioner Bedoya on Organized Money, the podcast he co-hosts with David Dayen, and Bedoya pointed out that if Trump can fire Democratic commissioners, he can also fire Republican commissioners. That means that if he cuts a shady deal with, say, Jeff Bezos, he can order the FTC to drop its case against Amazon and fire the Republicans on the commission if they don't frog when he jumps:

https://www.organizedmoney.fm/p/trumps-showdown-at-the-ftc-with-commissioner

(By the way, Organized Money is a fantastic podcast, notwithstanding the fact that they put me on the show last week:)

https://audio.buzzsprout.com/6f5ly01qcx6ijokbvoamr794ht81

The future that our plutocrat overlords are grasping for is indeed a terrible one. You can see its shape in the fantasies of "liberatarian exit" – the seasteads, free states, and other assorted attempts to build anarcho-capitalist lawless lands where you can sell yourself into slavery, or just sell your kidneys. The best nonfiction book on libertarian exit is Raymond Criab's 2022 "Adventure Capitalism," a brilliant, darkly hilarious and chilling history of every time a group of people have tried to found a nation based on elevating selfishness to a virtue:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/06/14/this-way-to-the-egress/#terra-nullius

If Craib's book is the best nonfiction volume on the subject of libertarian exit, then Naomi Kritzer's super 2023 novel Liberty's Daughter is the best novel about life in a libertopia – a young adult novel about a girl growing up in the hell that would be life with a Heinlein-type dad:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/21/podkaynes-dad-was-a-dick/#age-of-consent

But now this canon has a third volume, a piece of design fiction from Atelier Van Lieshout called "Slave City," which specs out an arcology populated with 200,000 inhabitants whose "very rational, efficient and profitable" arrangements produce €7b/year in profit:

https://www.archdaily.com/30114/slave-city-atelier-van-lieshout

This economic miracle is created by the residents' "voluntary" opt-in to a day consisting of 7h in an office, 7h toiling in the fields, 7h of sleep, and 3h for "leisure" (e.g. hanging out at "The Mall," a 24/7, 26-storey " boundless consumer paradise"). Slaves who wish to better themselves can attend either Female Slave University or Male Slave University (no gender controversy in Slave City!), which run 24/7, with 7 hours of study, 7 hours of upkeep and maintenance on the facility, 7h of sleep, and, of course, 3h of "leisure."

The field of design fiction is a weird and fertile one. In his traditional closing keynote for this year's SXSW Interactive festival, Bruce Sterling opens with a little potted history of the field since it was coined by Julian Bleeker:

https://bruces.medium.com/how-to-rebuild-an-imaginary-future-2025-0b14e511e7b6

Then Bruce moves on to his own latest design fiction project, an automated poetry machine called the Versificatore first described by Primo Levi in an odd piece of science fiction written for a newspaper. The Versificatore was then adapted to the screen in 1971, for an episode of an Italian sf TV show based on Levi's fiction:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tva-D_8b8-E

And now Sterling has built a Versificatore. The keynote is a sterlingian delight – as all of his SXSW closers are. It's a hymn to the value of "imaginary futures" and an instruction manual for recovering them. It could not be more timely.

Sterling's imaginary futures would be a good upbeat note to end this 'dump with, but I've got a real future that's just as inspiring to close us out with: the EU has found Apple guilty of monopolizing the interfaces to its devices and have ordered the company to open them up for interoperability, so that other manufacturers – European manufacturers! – can make fully interoperable gadgets that are first-class citizens of Apple's "ecosystem":

https://www.reuters.com/technology/apple-ordered-by-eu-antitrust-regulators-open-up-rivals-2025-03-19/

It's a good reminder that as America crumbles, there are still places left in the world with competent governments that want to help the people they represent thrive and prosper. As the Prophet Gibson tells us, "the future is here, it's just not evenly distributed." Let's hope that the EU is living in America's future, and not the other way around.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/03/22/omnium-gatherum/#storytime

Image: TDelCoro https://www.flickr.com/photos/tomasdelcoro/48116604516/

CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

[loverboysturn]

hey I love your aus so much!!! I was just wondering if you had any au or just general recommendations from other blogs.. like what are your favourites to read? 💗

thanks cutie 💌 and absolutely i do!!!! i will probably keep editing this and adding to it because i just know i will forget some but some of my most favourite au's (& also general recs):

☆ fratboy!chris & shy!reader (bun) & fratboy!matt & confident!reader (kitty) by @sturnioz is truly, truly incredible. it is a whole frat universe, and the way cas writes it is so immersive. literally perfect!!!!! (the au also has a series coming but cas has written some mini series’ for it too. the frat wedding mini series changes EVERYTHING btw)

☆ toxicfwb!chris by @y3sterdaysproblem (avery also has some incredible series’ and standalone fics — tssn!!!!!!! literally has my heart forever and ever!!!!! & her recent fic decompress is a new fav of mine, and i'm dying for more roommate!matt)

☆ @oopsiedaisydeer's whole emergency au!!! (need firefighter!matt so bad) (& her how to lose a guy in 10 days fic) ☆ @darksturnz artist!chris & star!reader is the most beautiful au!! ☆ @sturnswiftie's boxer!matt & sunshine!reader ☆ @sturnsrecord stoner!matt & messy!reader ☆ @mattsweethrt cowboy!matt & sweetheart!reader ☆ @st7rnioioss skater!chris & girly!reader ☆ @delilahsturniolo not an au but lilah is currently doing a writing marathon and it's so good!!! ☆ @55sturn loser!chris & meangirl!reader & loser!matt & academic weapon!reader ☆ @strnilolover prince!matt !!!!! & new stepbrother au! ☆ @backwardshatnick call centre au ☆ any of @vanteguccir one shots!! (lele’s newest one called sleep paralysis is so sweet!) ☆ @phone4pills robot!chris & gts!matt ☆ @sweetshuga smut is incred

i have so many more!!!! i will come back and add to the above list.

[thekingofspin]

thinking about the time in the angels take manhattan when river said to the doctor "that's professor song to you" and the doctors face is a look if pure fear and pain because he knows he's running out of time.

[pstelwitchcraft]

I'm still so, so fascinated by Laudna. Like, how deep does the denial go? When Imogen asks her "you're not lying to me again, are you?" And she takes over a minute to answer pretty defensively that No, she's not, is she unsure because she knows she's lying? Is she unsure because she knows that she's definitely feeding delilah and that the stronger she gets, the least control Laudna has? Is she unsure because she knows delilah was gone for good, completely, and Laudna allowing her to come back is what flooded the gates again? Does Laudna herself understand that she's lying to Imogen and how? Marisha has straight up not given any definitive answers whenever she's asked about their relationship and I am just so curious.

When she says "No. I'm not feeding her, she's feeding me too. It's symbiotic", is she lying through her teeth because she thinks that will make Imogen worry less or does she genuinely believe that? I cannot understand if she truly believes she needs Delilah, if she knows, deep down, that she doesn't and Delilah is actually feeding off of her but there's a dependent relationship there that she can't let go or if this is all some sort of self depreciative sabotage where she knows that she's likely going to lose herself to this but she believes it to be worth it if it helps her friends in any way.

It's probably a mix of all three but I genuinely cannot stop thinking about it.

[msmarymillspaulos]

"Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices...

Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?"

Matt Haig - The Midnight Library

[gemisreading]

31/03/2025 || currently reading

I seriously want to finish this book before I go to sleep. Id love to have another book finished this year. I think knowing i’d finished, ready to start a new reading month, would really help with the reading slump i’m currently experiencing. Although i’m only just half way through right now I believe.

[sophaeros]

arctic monkeys for rip it up - new zealand, june/july 2007 / no. 317

Monkey Storm

It's been just over a year since Rip It Up spoke to indie superstars Arctic Monkeys. Since then they've toured the world, played a stonking show in Auckland, and just released their second album Favourite Worst Nightmare, so we figured it was time to talk to them again. Guitarist Jamie Cook took Rip It Up's call.

by Helene Ravlich

You can't get much farther from the UK town of Sheffield than the middle of the Palm Desert, which Arctic Monkeys guitarist Jamie Cook describes as "steaming, it were really hot," while chowing down on a Mexican meal in midtown Los Angeles.

He describes the band's experience of playing the Coachella music festival in said area as being "just lovely”, choosing to ignore the events of only two days before. On Friday, the youthful quartet played their indie hit ‘I Bet You Look Good On the Dance Floor;, but failed to impress former Faith No More singer Mike Patton, who was also performing with his really rather amazing trip-hop-influenced project, Peeping Tom. Resplendent in a doo-rag and a faux bulletproof vest, he led his crowd on an adjacent stage into mocking laughter directed at the English band. It appears that the Arctics - who recently released their second album, Favourite Worst Nightmare - were largely oblivious to the ex-Faith No More frontman's shenanigans, and just carried on having a bloody good time.

For those of you who may have been hiding under the duvet for the last few years, the Arctic Monkeys were one of the music world's most recent meteoric success stories. Just a bunch of likely lads from High Green (a suburb of Sheffield) much in need of a course of ProActiv acne wash, the Arctics achieved their success largely through fan-made demo tapes and online file-sharing. They were heralded as one of the first acts to come to the public attention via the internet (pre-MySpace), with commentators suggesting they represented the possibility of a change in the way in which new bands are promoted and marketed. The band eventually signed to independent record label Domino and their debut album, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, became the fastest-selling debut album in British music history and received unbridled displays of critical acclaim, including winning the 2006 Mercury Prize.

Since the release of that first album it's been pretty manic for the lads, who are still barely out of their teens. Surely by now they must be in need of some time off?

"Well we didn't really want to take any," says Cook, "I guess you could call it time off when we were recording but even that didn't take that long at all because we all get quite bored quite easily”.

That teenage leaning towards ADHD even infiltrates any attempt at a holiday with once again the guitarist saying that "we don't really take holidays because they just make us get even more bored”. Did some of that urgency stem from the jitters due to having the pressure to produce a second album as successful as their first weighing on their shoulders?

"No not all all, definitely not. We all really love touring and recording and going non-stop - that's what you start a band for, you know what I mean? We just wanted to get back into the studio so we could get that out of the way and go back on tour... we'd been on the road for 18 months but just wanted to get back out there."

So the band write when they are out on the road?

"Yeah a few songs were wrote on the road and a few were wrote in the studio," explains the guitarist, "and when we had a few days at home in Sheffield a few were wrote there too."

He says that the songs are also written using a variety of methods, including those that are generated from a general band jam session which singer Alex then goes away and creates lyrics for.

"Sometimes a song will come from a drum part or someone having a play on the acoustic guitar," he explains, "and we just develop it together."

Despite the fact that they have pretty much only seen the inside of tour buses and hotel rooms for the past couple of years he says that they still find inspiration from things observed on the road, as well as seemingly insignificant events that remain in their minds. New track 'The Only Ones Who Know' dates back to an innocuous story of two newcomers to the city who asked the band one Sunday night, "where's good to go tonight?" Vocalist and lyricist Turner later turned this into the aforementioned romantic wee song, which hopes that the pair are "still holding hands by New Year's Eve".

Formed in 2002, the band currently consists of Alex Turner on lead vocals and guitar, Cook on guitar, Matt Helders on drums and backing vocals and Nick O'Malley on bass guitar, a position formerly held by Andy Nicholson. Nicholson suddenly upped and left the group after pulling out of a North American tour last year, and the band issued the following, rather bland statement: "We are sad to tell everyone that Andy is no longer with the band. We have been mates with Andy for a long time and have been through some amazing things together that no one can take away. We all wish Andy the very best". The bass player's initial departure from the US tour was blamed on "fatigue following an intensive period of touring," and then he finally threw the remainder of his toys out of the cot and left for good.

Maybe one day we'll all just go mad... There you go — end of this year we'll all be in rehab! Jamie Cook

So Andy was out and the band gained Nick, both of whom have been friends with the others in the band since childhood. Do they ever see Andy around during the rare trips they get to take back to Sheffield?

"Yeah we do," says Cook, "he's a DJ now and does a club night on a Saturday there that we like to go to when we can."

He adds that the ex-bass player is also trying to get a band back together so he obviously has got over the trauma of his earlier experience with the Arctics. He says that O'Malley's entrance into the band was almost seamless, and that after he filled in for Nicholson after he dropped off early in their US tour it immediately felt "natural" and so he stayed. Surely the current line up feels at times the enormous pressure of being The Next Big Thing, and now a million pretenders have been signed in their wake and are probably enduring much of the same. How does the still really rather young guitarist recommend that they cope? How do his band stay sane in the face of media madness and public fanaticism?

"I don't rightly know," he says with a laugh, "maybe one day we'll all just go mad... There you go - end of this year we'll all be in rehab!

“That seems to be the thing to do right now, doesn't it?" he continues, "start feeling sorry for yourself and then just ship off to a clinic".

Drummer Matt Helders has reportedly taken up boxing in order to stay in shape for the rigours of their relentless touring schedule, but one can hardly imagine the scrawnier members of the band attempting the same.

As well as a new bass player, Favourite Worst Nightmare also sees the arrival of two new producers for the band. After making Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not with acclaimed rock producer Jim Abiss (Kasabian, DJ Shadow, Placebo), the band took a creative swerve on its follow up by working with James Ford (whose "We Are Your Friends' — as Simian — became a UK club smash in tandem with the Arctics) and Mike Crossey. Vocalist Turner has said that, "from the very first session we did it was obvious that it was sound with them", and Cook agrees, adding that the producers are barely older than the band themselves and understood them from the get go. They had actually started work on their debut with Ford and Crossey but Abiss was called in to take over not long after, so when it was time to start work on album number two they knew that they had more control and could choose to go back to their original choice of producers. He echoes Turner saying, “we just knew right from the start that we'd done the right thing and still feel good about doing it". What did they bring to the sound of the album and the process that Abiss couldn't offer?

"I can't really put my finger on it," he says, "it was just a load of new ideas and a matter of working with people who really understood what we were trying to do.

"We haven't really done much time in the studio but they were really willing to explain things to us," he adds, which is one of the best ways of learning, innit?"

He says the process was very democratic though, with everyone's individual ideas given airtime and considered, whether or not the production duo agreed with them, "but if something was really shit they'd kind of tell us, and we respected that".

He says that the time spent on a seemingly never-ending tour has at least given him the chance to check out new music, and he likes a lot of what he hears.

"I really love the new Arcade Fire album," he enthuses, "and they were at Coachella too so I got to actually watch them, which was amazing".

He's also a big fan of the Kings of Leon and relative newbies the Klaxons, but says that he can hear the funeral bells tolling for the UK indie scene which singled out his band to be huge.

"There's just so many shit bands back home now that I think anyone with a guitar can get signed, he says, "especially if they've got a nice haircut or something".

He's excited about touring the United States however, which they had previously only visited for a whirlwind three and a half weeks. Are they actively looking to properly break into that massive market? "I don't really know, we think people like us over here but who knows?" he explains, "we haven't been bottled yet.."

This year the lads have been given the mammoth task of being the headlining act at Glastonbury. which is surely no mean feat for a band barely out of their teens. Cook says that the whole band were hugely flattered at being asked, and explains that part of that was due to the fact that the ink was well dry on the contract before they had even started work on their second album.

"We just feel so honoured and can't wait," he says with true excitement in his voice, "I've never even been to Glastonbury because I've always been too young or couldn't get a ticket. I'd watch it every year on the telly and just think how much I'd like to go, and now, I'm bloody playing it!"

[itsmetheabnormalone]

WHAT THE FUCK

[marrma]

Dare I say the foxes:

[psychokatrixxxy]

Based on a post from @jupiterliketheplanet

Tags for my amazingly supportive mutuals @valdeswan @theacemagpie

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Noise.

Deafening noise.

That's the last thing Matthew Murdock remembers. A sharp piercing noise that his heightened hearing had no problem picking up. It was deafening.

Matt remembers covering his ears, but it did nothing to alleviate the pressure building in his ear drums. His cowl feeling all too tight.

The ground was hard and cold, providing no comfort. When did he end up on the ground? Did he fall? Was he already on it?

The pressure lessens, as does the noise, now just a faint ringing in his ears. Matt can finally hear his surroundings again. Sirens are blaring somewhere in the distance.

Breathing in the air is heavier. The taste of chemicals is heavy on Matt's tongue. New York's air has never been this bad, Hell's Kitchen's air has never been this bad.

Something's wrong.

Matt jumps to his feet only to fall forward, bracing himself on a brick wall, his legs feel weak, and the ground unstable.

All of his senses are screaming at him. Everything is wrong. It feels wrong, smells wrong, and tastes wrong.

Where the hell am I?

Think, what happened…

As Matt tries to recall the events that lead up to the horrible noise and ending up here, he draws a blank. The memories aren't fuzzy, they aren't fractured. They aren't there. Whatever happened, however Matt ended up here, where ever here is, he can't remember.

But that's okay. Of course it's okay, he's Matthew Murdock, the Devil of Hell's Kitchen's, the Daredevil.

Breathing deeply, Matt focuses on his surroundings. The metallic scent of blood assaults his senses. Using one arm to keep himself standing, Matt uses his thumb to wipe away his blood. Broken nose, great.

By the way sounds echo and the stench of trash, Matt must be in an alley. The brick wall under his gloves is ruff. The comforting pressure of his cowl rests over his head, no longer feeling too tight.

So he's suited up, depending on where he is right now that could either be a good thing or seriously detrimental to figuring out where he is and what happened.

Other than the fading pain in his head and his broken nose, he doesn't seem to be too injured. And the pain in his head is hopefully just from that noise and not a concussion.

I need a plan.

Step 1: Find out where I am.

Step 2: Get home.

….Perhaps he does have a concussion. That's fine, nothing Matt hasn't handled before.

Matt pushes away from the wall, staggering slightly as he finds the fire escape. From the rooftops it will be easier to survey his surroundings and listen in on conversations below to get an idea of where he is so that he can make it back to Hell’s Kitchen, and his apartment.

Making his way up to the roof of what seems to be an abandoned six-story apartment complex without much trouble, Matt perches on the ledge, straining his ears to pick up on the sounds surroundings him. Sounds should carry easier up here than down in the alleyway, the smaller space making it harder to distinguish the direction sounds come from as they bounce off of walls and muddle together.

Up on the roof top, sounds are clearer. And they seem to be the only thing clearer. Somehow the stench of chemicals in the air seems worse than down in the alleyway.

Along with the chemical scent is the smell of rain, a warning to those unfortunate enough to find themself out and about to find shelter from the coming storm.

But before Matt can even begin searching for a suitable place to seek refuge from the approaching storm, a familiar sound causes him to jump into action.

A cry for help.

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Sorry for it being so short for a first chapter, but school has been killing me lately. Please forgive me 🥺

Edit: link to fic in comments